Gateway's business chief resigns

Dave Turner, the executive appointed in January to run Gateway's division catering to business customers, is leaving the company because of personal reasons.

His resignation will take effect at the end of the week, a Gateway representative said on Wednesday.

Turner, who held a series of marketing and sales positions since coming to the PC company in 2000, managed the company's business division, which seeks to sell PCs, servers and software to government offices and medium-size businesses. The division accounted for $1.8 billion in revenue in 2002, according to a representative. Gateway's consumer division accounted for $2.4 billion in sales.

Executive changes have become common at Gateway since early 2001. Although once one of the fastest-growing PC companies in the world, the company, which is based in Poway, Calif, has been struggling since the PC market slowed down in August 2000. Founder Ted Waitt returned to the CEO spot in January 2001 and has been tinkering with Gateway's business strategy ever since in an effort to return the company to sustainable profitability.

In the first quarter of the year, Gateway reported revenue of $844 million, down from revenue of $1.06 billion in the first quarter of 2002, and a net loss of $200 million.

Before Turner, the business group was run by Van Andrews, a former Toshiba exec, and Susan Parks.

Turner is resigning to move his family back to the East Coast to take care of personal issues, the representative said.